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Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place 5+ days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Crafting is not the best gear
nanfoodle
Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Best gear is the gear you can get. Vast majority of players are finding crafting out of their reach. Crafting requires so much time, casuel players have to pick between leveling at the same rate as their friends or progress crafting. Crafters that are getting these systems have a hard time selling items. Current market system is only slightly helpful. Or selling an item means you need to travel 20+ min to get to your buyer.
Most people don't have access to crafted gear for many of the reasons I listed above. This is before you get to the frustration of finding things like copper and rubies. Or how convoluted the crafting system is or how not fun the crafting interface is.
So the best gear is the rare drops you can get from mobs. It's the majority of what people are playing with.
Then you have the highly organized exporters that train you and take the crafting resources you find. That corner the market with supplies they have used griefing tactics to get.
All this comes down to one thing. The common player feels frustrated and not having fun.
Grinding is the main way to level for now. I get more is coming but this is compounded with the fact that grinding is also how most people are gearing up.
This is not fun. IMO crafting needs to become easier to do and succeed at. Crafters need easier ways to get to buyers. By a better market (get this is a place holder) as what we have now is also anything but fun or intuitive. Resources need to be easier to access. If there is lots of things like copper, fix why most people can't get it.
Im a master crafter from ESO and I'm spinning my wheels in this game and I know I am not alone. It's the compound of all the problems listed above that makes this untenable for most.
If there is something you want to do to keep testers playing. Fix this and give us LFG tools.
Most people don't have access to crafted gear for many of the reasons I listed above. This is before you get to the frustration of finding things like copper and rubies. Or how convoluted the crafting system is or how not fun the crafting interface is.
So the best gear is the rare drops you can get from mobs. It's the majority of what people are playing with.
Then you have the highly organized exporters that train you and take the crafting resources you find. That corner the market with supplies they have used griefing tactics to get.
All this comes down to one thing. The common player feels frustrated and not having fun.
Grinding is the main way to level for now. I get more is coming but this is compounded with the fact that grinding is also how most people are gearing up.
This is not fun. IMO crafting needs to become easier to do and succeed at. Crafters need easier ways to get to buyers. By a better market (get this is a place holder) as what we have now is also anything but fun or intuitive. Resources need to be easier to access. If there is lots of things like copper, fix why most people can't get it.
Im a master crafter from ESO and I'm spinning my wheels in this game and I know I am not alone. It's the compound of all the problems listed above that makes this untenable for most.
If there is something you want to do to keep testers playing. Fix this and give us LFG tools.
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Comments
I agree that it's important to maybe remind Intrepid that you can 'feel the negative effects' of their currently implemented placeholder.
I disagree with the title of your post, if you want to foster a positive discussion/community response, and I'd request that you change it in some way, since you don't need to do it this way to 'make sure the Devs pay attention', right?
Well, just a suggestion/request. Hope it doesn't come off as too ... I forget the term, actually...
1.
Focusing on the journey and not the destination may be helpful with this frustration. You can get crafted gear. Some are saying its too easy.
Like legendary does not feel legendary because its too easy to get.
2.
Grinding will probably be the main way to level forever.
Personally, I have had some much fun since the 20th that I have not really noticed the grind. I am level 24 with four journeymen skills and it all feels like it was too quick.
I understand your frustrations, but to people like me the game will be unplayable if it gets too easy. I want to live in this world for the long haul and I can't do that if I finish everything.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Then make green and blue crafted items be less stressful to get and legendary be what it is. The path does not need to become easy. It needs to be more friendly and intuitive.
Has intrepid not said they plan to include quests for solo play? I imagine a good portion of population with switch over to questing at least 50% of the time, and that’s even if grinding is still the “optimal” way.
It also seems you are on the other side of the opinions with crafting and gathering. From what I’ve read, most of the feedback shows a disdain for the current implementation and pace of progression. I’m all the journey, but right now it is about the journey and it seems most people are unhappy with it.
The issues with Artisanship largely aren't about the fact that 'it is a journey' at the moment, it's simply that the current implementation of Artisanship/Itemization is just bad/placeholder.
I really hope that we as a community don't let this specific 'concept' turn into the usual binary perception that ruins MMOs.
An unpleasant system causes some players to get frustrated, and some other players who like the challenges to get defensive, until some devs just 'flip a coin as to who to make happy' by either doubling down or abandoning the system.
When it was just the poor implementation that caused such extreme reactions in the first place.
I really want a good Artisanship system, let's please not make this about 'you guys just want convenience, you should learn to enjoy the journey!' vs 'This sucks and is boring/unplayable, make it easier and faster!'
Can we just agree that there's a better middle ground and Intrepid just hasn't given it to us yet?
I agree and don't. Most would agree legendary gear needs to be just that. A level 10 green bow should be about the same level of work as a level 10 green bow from a dungeon but more accessible to crafters and buyers. The balance is not about making everything easier. It's about balance. This is for two reasons. Crafters should be selling their gear to players. Two players should be relying on crafters.
IMO killing mobs should be dropping crafting resource. We should be running to crafters with our loot, asking/paying crafters to make the gear with the stats they want and need.
EDIT: I get we will be deconstructing later
Right, but that's the middle ground I meant.
Any serious Artisan from nearly any other game can look at this game and almost immediately conclude 'oh, mobs should be dropping crafting resources as a generality'.
But obviously, they don't right now (again, as a generality), so nothing is working 'correctly'. Balancing is much harder when 'many' mobs drop crafting resources, so whoever is doing that balancing probably isn't ready to put their work live yet.
So right now, it's not about the 'people should enjoy the journey' or 'people being unhappy with the fact that there is a journey'. The 'journey' isn't even in the game yet.
And yet we are told to say what's fun and not fun. This is something many are talking about but not expressing here. I have not been having this much fun in a MMO since EQ1 back in 1999. So here I am voicing this. I want to love crafting and like in said above. I was a master crafter I ESO. I have done this in every MMO I have played in 25 years of MMOing. That being said. I'm not enjoying crafting in Ashes and I have never felt that way in any MMO. Even the games I have Alpha tested.
Well, going back to my first post in this thread on that note...
I care mostly about results. Nothing I have said is negative or game bashing
Thanks for clarifying that, truly, I'll adjust.
If you care mostly about results, then I understand why you've made the post in the way you did and I won't 'interfere' with your method of expressing your frustrations in future.
Please keep responding. Iron sharpens iron.
Man if only some one predicted this months ago then we could have skipped testing something that's doesn't work...
Count on it, but in this specific case, I agree with everything you said, and was just nitpicking about 'the way you said it', so unless you think it's worth it to 'be challenged on that', it didn't apply this time.
Speaking of Iron, Intrepid, Minotaurs plz? It's super obvious, right?
Spoken like a true dwarf!
[
I would role play that comment but I still don't know what race I wanna play at launch. To many good options. P. S. I. Love the dwarf flip. Makes me remember the dwarfs from EQ1.
This is the big problem, right here. Not being able to group with your friends that have a few more levels than you do.
I decided to let it go for now and focus on quests/grinding.
Because If I try to keep the pace between my character level and my artisanship level to be able to equip myself, I don't know when I could reach level 25
I started to play on 1 January and I am level 9
Crafting is not any where near being balanced to represent the intent for release.
But we have hear Steven say things like copper are working as intended. We have the copper we need. I personally think it's more complicated than that. And that Intrepid Studios is missing where this is a problem and not correcting that instead. And this is not a big deal you're right this is Alpha 2. Except for there's over 100,000 of us according to Steven. And many are taking breaks because they are sick of banging their head on this wall.
Let’s play a math game…
1. There isn’t enough copper available
2. The copper distribution is working as intended
Based on the information we know anout Ashes and Alpha 2, what conditions would allow both statement to be true?
It's from IS mouth.
1. There is enough copper being gathered but not being distributed once it has been collected.
2. Player population saying I can't find Copper
I know I have spent hours and hours looking and trying to find it. I have even trid what was suggested on mining other resources to try and get copper to spawn. In 2 hours I did a week or so ago I did not find a single copper node that way.
My guess is that something else is happening that is stopping Copper from getting to the people once it's been collected. And I'm not saying that there isn't enough copper. What I'm saying is if there is enough copper in the game what does Intrepid Studios need to do to get it in the hands of the players?
As requested by Steven they want us to tell them the problems and not the answer. All I did was put a bunch of problems together that many people are talking about including my guild. I don't care what the solution is I'm just letting them know where many people stand right now.
Because when it comes down to it in the end this is a compound problems that is making a bigger situation.
Woot
That's a movement in the right direction
Try a map...
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Ty Dora
i like it. Let's see how it turns out
Green and blue are way less stressful.
I do agree with your general thought though.
The issue I am having with crafting is that yellow through orange all feel equally as rare. And they don't feel rare enough. Maybe I am just lucky though.
I just don't ever see that many quests being available outside of commissions.
It really doesn't matter to me what side of the opinions I am on. It is not like that is going to change my opinion. I like to put time and effort into these games. If everything is going to be handed to me then I want out.
I think I can get journeymen in any craft except animal husbandry less than a day of play without stress. It really is not even about the journey yet. I have met lots of people who have made GM since the 20th. Just seems too easy.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
I do want crafting to be epic, I just don't think all of it needs to be epic. You can have best in slot that takes a guild doing raids, world bosses and the like to get that item. But still have crafters be the gate to green, blues and purple scaling in difficulty. Making it worth it to make and buy.
Make more crafting supplies drop from mobs scaling to the difficulty of the mob. Field trash greens with rare blies, dungeons blues and purples as rare drops. World bosses dropping the legendary mats and a bunch of purples.
A system like that would have crafters wanted more. People picking or armor drops as place holders for crafted items but still have people killing all sorts of NPCs to feed crafters.
Can you picture any crafter getting upset when every player knows what goes into each item because they are looking them up online for where they drop?
There we go...
And that, in turn, will maybe 'help' to make really high tiers of Copper and Zinc stay the same or less available, while not unbalancing the availability of the lower tiers for general crafting.
I'd say 'it's a start', but it's just what they told us we'd get back in the Gathering Showcase back then, so, just more indicators that they still intend to do what they said, just haven't gotten to it all yet.